


The Universal Arcana

by Kaoupa



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Persona Fusion, But not quite, Steven Universe Characters as Arcana representatives, Will update quickly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:23:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 2,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22870180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoupa/pseuds/Kaoupa
Summary: The universe does not bend to the whims of man or gem, despite what they might think. Existence is not something that can be easily defined or understood, and one’s entire life could easily pass them by if they dedicated themselves to understanding even a mere fragment of what is and can be.But patterns can be discerned by people who look in the right places. And sometimes, people can put labels on what is already there, and say they have given another way of expressing an old idea, or sometimes, have created something new.The two can overlap very easily.Inspiration for characters and their Arcana comes from multiple sources, including the "reversal" of their cards and the Persona series.
Relationships: Priyanka Maheswaran & Doug Maheswaran, Rose Quartz | Pink Diamond & Steven Universe, Ruby & Sapphire (Steven Universe)
Kudos: 31





	1. 0: The Fool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fool is birth. The beginning of a new journey and path, exploring, and being protected by luck (to a degree). 
> 
> It also says you should look ahead of you, before you step blindly and stumble off a cliff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Steven Universe. Or Persona.

Everything has to start somewhere. Despite what certain gems might claim, it was not with the Diamonds, however. Despite what certain humans might claim, the Big Bang was not a guaranteed answer, either.

After a long time, something can start where previously there was nothing of that sort. Independence can grow where it was squashed before. Power can grow where before there was powerlessness.

And for two people in particular, in two very different times and places, the beginning of their story came with the pink gemstone on their belly, and all the glories and troubles that waited for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Fool is not a single person, but rather, two people - specifically, the Steven Universe/Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond gemstone.


	2. 1: The Magician

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Magician appears at the start of a hero/Fool’s journey, and represents and shows them the new world that can be seen just ahead.
> 
> If the hero can muster up the will to act and march forwards.

She had never known that plants were green before she had come to Earth (green like she was! She honestly couldn’t help but feel joy that some organic being had chosen to copy her color, before she learned that wasn’t how it worked).

She hadn’t known that Era 2 Peridots could wield any sort of special ability, compared to the Era 1s before them. That she could act in ways so different, when she had been told her entire life beforehand that she could only act in a single way, because that was who she was.

She had never tried before. Never done anything but what she’d been told.

And today, now, she was doing what she wanted to do, and no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peridot the Magician.


	3. 2: The High Priestess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The High Priestess is the card of mystery, of the unknown and the intuition that leads one to their inner spirit and the subconscious.
> 
> Whether the Priestess will share the unknown with you, and which pieces of it she will share truthfully or benevolently, is one more secret.

Secrets were her trade, in many ways. Rose Quartz had lived far too long to not have secrets, frankly - everyone had them, it was a fact of life!

But at some point, in her life (when she was with the Diamonds, if you wanted to be specific), keeping secrets, concealing how she really felt in her subconscious, had become more of a reflex than a choice.

And nobody had ever really bothered to show her how to open up about her flaws. How to make her peace with who she’d been, and who she’d become. That she could be not perfect and still love herself.

She could have learned how to by herself.

And one of her most tragic secrets was that she had hidden that fact even from her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rose Quartz the High Priestess.


	4. 3: The Empress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Empress is the card of the mother. Of the caretaker, who doesn’t force anything, but is always willing to show a way, and offer aid if it is needed.
> 
> At least, this is the case if the Empress truly cares for the well-being of their children.

She had always cared.

Blue Diamond wasn’t the sort of person who couldn’t care about emotions - not when her own could literally spill out onto everyone else if she wasn’t careful.

Emotions had power. She knew that, deep inside - what you felt meant a great deal.

No matter what White might say or think.

But because that was what White said and thought, there was nothing she could ever do to give voice to it, no matter how much she wanted to.

And as long as she was silent, that would be all she could do for anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blue Diamond, the Empress.


	5. 4: The Emperor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Emperor is the card of authority. Of rules and logic, figuring out what you want and how you can get there. 
> 
> And in the end, if they are not careful, the Emperor will arrive at their destination heedless of who had to be crushed underfoot on the way there.

Everything that was, everything that mattered, revolved around her.

That was how she had designed it, and how things were supposed to be.

Despite what Yellow might think at times when she couldn’t see her (non-physical) contributions to the Empire, it was hers.

The caste system was hers. The rules had been made and set up by her - while they occasionally made new ones as needed, they were all rules she approved of.

And that was all it would ever be, under her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> White Diamond the Emperor.


	6. 5: The Hierophant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hierophant is the card of the community or teacher. Education, authority (not as much as the Emperor), and obedience and group values.
> 
> But never think that the education given or the values taught are guaranteed to be good, or that the obedience to the Hierophant is deserved.

Her people were safe. That was what was the most important thing of all. That was what White had taught her, and what she had taken in.

(Even if part of her whispered that White viewed herself as the Empire, not their people).

Her own feelings and wishes came secondary to that - as did everyone else’s. The Empire’s growth, the growth of its people - they were all that mattered.

That was what she’d been told by White.

(The whispers from within about how White was ignoring the sake of her people’s lives for the sake of more of them - of herself - was ignored).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yellow Diamond the Hierophant.


	7. 6: The Lovers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lovers is the card of choices. Whether choosing romantic or platonic relationships, or making personal or external decisions, and the changes that can come from different paths and different choices.
> 
> And the Lovers can represent any choice, whether it is good for you, or bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Leap Day!

Choice was everything, to Bismuth. Well, maybe it wasn't _everything_ , but it did mean a lot to her.

It was pretty clear why. Before she came to Earth, she'd had nothing but a lifetime of being told what to do, with her death as a very real threat if she didn't.

Rose giving her - no, _helping_ her realize she had a choice, meant a great deal as well. Choice meant a lot to Rose too.

Maybe the reason they disagreed over the Breaking Point was because neither of them agreed whether everyone deserved that choice.

Nobody could ever be trusted to always make the right choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bismuth, the Lover(s).


	8. 7: The Chariot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Chariot is the symbol of victory. About, for a time, gaining the power and drive needed to achieve your victory and what you seek.
> 
> No matter how hollow that victory might be, or what you had to sacrifice to get to a goal that might not be worth seeking anyways.

Victory was in sight. Jasper knew it.

The Ultimate Quartz had been training for her entire life, almost - for the moment that would come soon. 

The moment when she crushed Rose Quartz, the moment Pink Diamond would be avenged.

She’d spent countless years in Homeworld’s arenas, training against the other, more senior Quartzes, about the ways of battle.

(She gave no thought to the rest of her Kindergarten-mates. They’d fallen behind her long ago, going to that Zoo to watch over humans).

(She ignored the statements that Rose Quartz was dead, destroyed by the Diamond’s last strike against Earth).

(She ignored everything but the victory ahead of her).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jasper, the Chariot.


	9. 8: Strength

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strength refers to power that is mental, not physical. The strength to stand up by yourself, the strength to say what you want to do. The knowledge that you can make it through life with the strength you already have.
> 
> But sometimes, something can prevent your strength from showing itself. We can’t move forwards because we don’t think that we can. And not believing in yourself is sometimes the only thing stopping you from doing just that.

She had been scared for nearly her entire life. That was how she saw herself - she couldn’t believe she would ever do what she later did. She didn’t think it was possible for anyone, least of all her. 

She didn’t have any friends - because she had never managed to keep any, with all the moving that her parents did.

So after a while, she stopped trying to make them, since she had, for so long, been too busy with everything her family told her to do.

Until she met him. And he helped her grow, helped her learn - helped her develop strength all her own. They were best friends, practically from the second that they met.

But it wasn’t all just him. A big part of her story was her finally learning to apply everything she’d been taught - or taught herself.

But either way, no matter the source, nothing had ever made her feel better than finding the strength to stand on her own two feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Connie is Strength.


	10. 9: The Hermit.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hermit is a symbol of time alone. Finding solitude, to evaluate yourself and others, and the connections between you.
> 
> At least, that’s what happens if the Hermit uses their time alone to realize and remove the blocks in their life, instead of build them.

He was lonely. His family had all left him, a long time ago. Even Greg - he hadn’t seen or heard from him in more than a decade.

Everyone was just… drifting apart, in the end. Leaving him behind, and not even bothering to send word or greetings.

At least, that was what he’d been thinking for quite some time. But, well, after he’d gone to finally see Greg… well, he had learned he had a nephew.

And, well, he also had a plane.

And he also realized that himself and his inability to ask everyone where they had gone were probably the main things that had stopped him from seeing them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Andy the Hermit.


	11. 10: The Wheel of Fortune.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Wheel of Fortune represents, as it says, fortune. Of seeing how the world and fate turns on, and how we move in our lives - the habits of the world and ourselves.
> 
> Whether those habits and fortunes are good or bad, or a mixture of the two.

Life was good. And then, life was… still good, but it just had a few things lost and gained from it.

He loved Steven, just as he had loved Rose before he’d met his son.

He was living in a van and taking care of a carwash while he collected royalties, over time, from the songs he had sold.

It wasn’t living in a mansion and playing with others before a stadium of fans, but it wasn’t bad.

He had problems, though. He wanted to see his son more, but he couldn’t stay in the Beach House.

He also tended to be… non confrontational, really. He wouldn’t deny how he felt, but he wasn’t always the best at bringing it up.

But he was working on it. He was content living a work in progress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greg, the spinner of the Wheel of Fortune.


	12. 11: Justice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Justice shows a balance in the scales - that the weight of your burdens will be met by a reward that can equal and take that weight away. That things will eventually be fair to everyone.
> 
> However, the promise that the scales will be balanced implies that there was an imbalance there originally, and that things were once unfair. And that has to be dealt with too.

Priyanka and Doug Maheswaran were complete idiots. That was the only explanation they could come up with for not noticing what Connie had been doing for so long.

And they were even bigger idiots for not realizing for far longer that the reason they knew nothing about their daughter’s life was because they had driven her away by trying to control it.

They started trying to fix it, after that discovery. Their relationship with Connie, and the massive mess they’d made of her life and her heart.

They had unbalanced their relationship with their daughter, and nearly damaged it to the point that they wouldn’t have been able to fix it.

They did apologize, after that day. They started trying to make up what they’d done. But Connie still wouldn’t tell them everything, about her time with Steven. Wouldn't trust them completely.

And that burden was their responsibility, and also their fault.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Priyanka and Doug are Justice.


	13. 12: The Hanged Man.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hanged Man is sacrifice, for the sake of others or yourself. Feeling pain or isolation for the sake of making things better, gaining knowledge, and gaining a new perspective from the sacrifice.
> 
> But sometimes, things go wrong. The isolation from the world continues. Or the Hanged Man cannot bring himself to give anything up. Because sometimes, the loss you suffer only hurts and gives you no reward.

Steven hurt. He had been hurting for a very long time. But his hurt had taught him lessons. He probably wouldn’t be the person he was today without it.

Well, maybe he would have been. He would still have been a nice guy! He was pretty sure. (Are you really sure? Part of him whispered inside him).

He wouldn’t know what he did now, he probably wouldn’t have made so many friends or been able to help so many people. 

(At what point had helping people become all he knew and thought he could do?)

But he couldn’t stop helping people. Even if it hurt him, everyone was relying on him (had been relying on him).

Helping people was important. But sacrificing himself for everyone that he had helped (had all but demanded his help), had left him unable to help himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Steven Universe, the Hanged Man.


	14. 13: Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Death is the symbol of an end. Not the end of everything, but the end of part of your life. Letting go of something whose time has ended, and the promise that someday things will get better. Death is change.
> 
> But sometimes people resist Death, and cling to their past even if it hurts them, refusing to even try moving on. A foolish thing, considering that many say the only true constant is that things change.

She’d clung to the Garden for a very, very, long time.

She’d clung to their game, no matter how long it might take - she was going to win this time!

Pink was taking a lot longer than she thought she would, though. 

She was probably just waiting for Spinel to move - move and lose the game. She was just on the other side of that Warp Pad - waiting.

Sometimes, part of her wondered if losing the game would really be so bad, if it meant that she’d get to see Pink again sooner. If she could do something again sooner.

She ignored that thought. She clung to her first decision until she could cling to it no longer. 

And in the end, even though she hated herself for most of what she did after that, she would never deny that nothing had ever felt better for her than letting go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spinel is Death.


	15. 14: Temperance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Temperance represents harmony from and within the blending of opposites. Of things that seem incompatible being compatible, and being used to fix things.
> 
> Of course, this only works if the opposites can harmonize properly. If they don’t, it’s entirely possible things will blow up in your face because of it.

Garnet was very well put-together. That was a fact. People as opposite as Ruby and Sapphire could be her together for literal millennia was proof of that.

Ruby was emotional, Sapphire was logical (except for the times when Sapphire couldn’t deal with her emotions and Ruby had to bring in her experience with that).

But sometimes, rarely, the two of them just blew up, whether at each other or just at the world in general. Or they just needed to split up for some time, for some reason or another.

Or her normally-pristine vision was clouded by the incompatibilities that she had never managed to work out.

Those occasions were the ones that usually led to the biggest disasters, for Garnet and everyone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Garnet, Temperance.


	16. 15: The Devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Devil represents the parts of us that we are often less proud of. Our indulgences and our guilty pleasures. The things that we are both ashamed of but that can also help us release our passions.
> 
> But the Devil does not have power over us. We are not inescapably chained or trapped by our pleasures, nor restricted from indulgence. Not unless on some level we choose to be.

Being like a human was just so much fun. Just a good way to spend time, despite what that buzzkill Pearl always thought.

A good way to ignore herself, to forget that she had emerged from a place that hurt her home.

She dove more and more into being human (what she thought was being human), with Greg and Vidalia and the rest of Beach City. Even when people started telling her that she was going too far.

It was all she could focus on. At least, that was what she thought.

Then, she started talking about things. She met her “famethyst”. She wondered why she had been dwelling on everything for so long.

And she realized that she was the reason she dwelled, and decided to stop doing it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Amethyst, the Devil.


	17. 16: The Tower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Tower shakes. The Tower falls, struck by lightning that illuminates the landscape, laying things bare for all to see. The foundations are devastated. But the truth of the Tower’s past instability is revealed.
> 
> Something new can be built now, from the Tower’s loss. But sometimes, it is hard to acknowledge the painful truth. That for a new and better foundation to be made, the loss was necessary.

Rose was gone (her Rose was gone). She still couldn’t believe it.

She had been in love with her (partly-willingly enslaved to her) for so long. And now she was gone.

What was she supposed to do now (be free, that’s what she had always wanted).

She had to take care of her son (he was her, wasn’t he her, he wasn’t her).

She loved him (not the same way she’d loved Rose).

She’d learned more about Rose, and Steven too. And about who she had been. 

More about someone who was needy, someone who clung to Rose like a lifeline and tried to bar anyone else from doing the same.

That was someone who she had moved past, thankfully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pearl, the Tower.


	18. 17: The Star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the Tower’s destruction, the Star lights a new way for those seeking tomorrow. The Star gives hope, of a new life and a future time to come. Of newfound passions and creativity.
> 
> But sometimes the sky can be clouded over, and the Star does not shine. And we can’t see the promise of hope, new life, a future, healing, and inspiration that waits just out of sight.

They were her hope, in so many ways.

Steven had been the first person in thousands of years to show her kindness, show her mercy. Before, she had been given none.

Where everyone else sought to keep her imprisoned, he tried to free her.

When her soul was feeling low, he would try to show her the way.

For so long, she hadn’t been willing to heal herself, but he had helped show her the way.

In her own way, Peridot had helped too. Helped her find something new to do, instead of terraforming planets and killing life.

She’d found a new life that was hers alone. It took a long time for her to finally start finding hope again. But she had.

And now, she could help teach other people too, like Steven had helped her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lapis Lazuli, the Star.


	19. 18: The Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Moon is the darkness within everyone’s soul. Our dreams, our visions, the chaos inside us that is usually not spoken aloud, since it is harder to put words to emotions than logic.
> 
> The things that happen in the darkness of the Moon aren’t always good things. But everyone needs their own shades - even though we need to confront them all, in time.

He’d been in the long dark of his soul for several years now. He wasn’t sure why, either. He’d just never been very good at knowing who he was.

He liked to cook? But cooking was not something men were supposed to do, not something cool people were supposed to do.

He wanted to be cool. At least, he thought that he wanted to be cool, because what else was he supposed to be? A loser who couldn’t do anything well?

That was what he was compared to Sadie, or Steven, or the Cool Kids, right?

But he had, somehow, started working his way out from under the eclipse. It was a long journey ahead of him, and he had no illusions that it would be easy.

But he knew, one day, he would make it out into the light of the moon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lars Barriga, the Moon.


	20. 19: The Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sun is a sign to remember what you have - to follow your mind, to see yourself clearly, to see what you have that’s going well for you. Enjoy life with this card, you’re going to feel and be amazing.
> 
> Be grateful for the right things, though. Sometimes, you shouldn’t be grateful for the place and things that others give you. And make sure that your reasons for joy or anger are the right ones.

Life was good, for the Zoomans. Really, it was! Things were peaceful, there was so much fun to be had.

Their home had always been good, and the people outside were good to them too.

They could do whatever they wanted here, as long as they stayed here.

Until he came. The “Gah-Reg”. Who decided he didn’t want to be Choosened. By anyone.

And they were hurt, for the first time. And they grew angry at him, for refusing to Choosen one of them.

None of them really considered how he could only have Choosened one person in the first place, or why he decided not to.

Or actually asking him why he had made that decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Zoomans are the Sun.


	21. 20: Judgement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judgement represents the truth, that all will be revealed to everyone eventually. You can’t run forever - sooner or later, the bones of the world will be laid bare to everyone who takes a look.
> 
> But make sure that when time comes for you to be judged that you are willing to listen to, acknowledge, and face those truths.

She had been stuck in that dump for more than two years, by the time that she quit. So had Lars (but he had been fired after getting kidnapped by aliens, instead of quitting).

And the song that she’d written had been everything she’d ever dreamed of screaming at her manager but never actually done.

And finally saying/screaming it out loud had felt so good. It had really surprised her.

So had the end of her long-term… thing… with Lars. Maybe it could have worked, but it not working sort of worked too.

She just hoped that Steven could eventually figure that out himself. Both the part where he yelled at people, and how good it felt to finally get the truth out there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sadie, Judgement.
> 
> Whoops, this was late. I was busy for the early part of the day and I didn't remember until just now... sorry.


	22. 21: The World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The World is the journey’s end. Finding a place or position for yourself, becoming wise, personal completion. The World is the opposite, in a good way, to the Fool.
> 
> But believing that you are wise can be a Foolishness all its own.

Nanefua looked at what she’d done throughout her life. It wasn’t perfect, but she had no reason to be dissatisfied.

She’d given the world her son, and he in turn had given her two granddaughters - and both Jenny and Kiki were wonderful in their own ways.

Beach City was thriving - because of her and the citizens, human and gem both.

Little Homeworld hadn’t been fully made, but it was growing every day (and more gems were arriving by the day, and more humans who wanted to see what it was like - or stay).

Things for her were coming to their conclusion, and she was satisfied with that.

Because she had done well, and in the end, that was enough for her.

And she knew that the last chapter of her life (she was old) would be, for a lot of other people, the start of a new one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nanefua, Beach City, and Little Homeworld, as the World.


	23. Omake: 23: The Happy Squirrel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Happy Squirrel, simply put, is a force from outside.
> 
> Things can’t always be explained. We cannot control everything around us - there’s always going to be something you can’t account for. Some element that you could never see coming that throws everything into disarray.
> 
> Of course, this isn’t the only interpretation of it. There are plenty of other ways to see the Happy Squirrel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly wasn't planning to write this, but after reading the Tarot cards page on TV tropes and finding out about this, I couldn't help myself too much.

Onion was… weird, to everyone around him. Well, except for his family - they had been near him long enough that his antics were normal.

He liked it that way, honestly.

People around here were just so… used to things.

It was honestly kind of dull that way. Nothing seemed to surprise anybody anymore. So he tried to keep things interesting for everyone.

Of course, that was just part of why he had snuck into Little Homeworld and rigged a few pieces of gemtech up to blast Steven’s friend Pearl and her class with balloons filled with things he’d found in the forest.

The shrieks, as they floated up, were music to his ears.

Maybe now she’d go see Steven at his house. He needed the company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Onion, the Happy Squirrel.


End file.
